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justbennett
The Shire
Oct 8 2012, 11:33pm
Views: 303
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I appreciate that quote very much. I think it is interesting that Tolkien didn't say, "I didn't like the soft feet." Instead he says, "I never believed in [them]." Of course, I'm not sure exactly what he meant or who he was writing to, but it is almost as if he is attempting to discern the Truth about orcs.
I've been wading through the writings of MacDonald, and the soft feet are right at home in his writings. His stories are at times poetic, at times epic, and at times straight up goofy. He seems to me like a story teller who cannot keep a straight face, nor can he resist the extremes. Parts of his writing are quite enjoyable and compelling, other parts are a little sticky sweet for me. Personally, I loved that his goblins had soft feet. They also were frightened by rhymes and songs.
Is it really so much worse than Tolkien's orcs being adverse to sunlight?
Anyway, the similarity of some of the descriptive passages in the mines and of the goblins made me think that Tolkien had to have been influenced by them. Now I think I'll go back and revisit some of the "fairy" type scenes from both authors. It seems like Frodo's encounters with Galadriel and with Bombadil are similar to some of MacDonald's fairy encounters. MacDonald's fairies are usually trying to teach or improve the protagonist in some way. I think a comparison might be interesting.
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